Landowner statements

Section 31(6) of the Highway Act 1980 lets landowners acknowledge existing public rights of way that cross their land and prevent new public rights of way being created by ‘presumed dedication’. This is done in a deposited statement and declaration, which needs to be re-submitted every 20 years.

A deposited statement and declaration does not stop a right of way being confirmed by other means, for example historic evidence.

A similar process exists under section 15A of the Commons Act 2006, which allows a landowner to deposit a map and statement with us, which can end any recreational use of the land ‘as of right’. If this is submitted before there have been 20 years ‘as of right’ use of land for recreational purposes it will prevent the land from being registered as a town or village green.

Gov.uk – Commons Act 2006: landowner statements, highways statements and declarations form

Applying

Please complete and return a CA16 form to: Reading Borough Council, Head of Legal & Democratic Services, Civic Office, Bridge Street, Reading RG1 2LU

Fees

There is a standard fee of £280 for processing an application.

Item Details Including Fee
Process application
  1. Acknowledgement of receipt
  2. Checking of application including comparison of existing records
  3. Preparation of notice
  4. Publish notice of receipt
  5. Publish notice of application on website
  6. Serve notice of application by email
 Officer time, computer work, general administration (4 hours) £160
Post notice of application Post notices on site at or near least one obvious point of entry to the land to which the application relates Officer time, general administration, travel expenses (2 hours) £80
Update registers Add entries to relevant registers (paper and electronic form) Officer time, general administration, scanning and digitising records (1 hour) £40
Standard fee £280
Process declaration Update records and register Officer time, general administration, scanning and digitising records (1 hour) £40

Current list of Section 15A(1) Deposits

Date of the deposit: 01/09/2016

Owner of land: The University of Reading

Description of land: Land at Whiteknights Campus, University of Reading, PO Box 235, Reading RG6 6BW

Ward: Church

University of Reading Deposit of Statement and Plan

Last updated on 01/04/2022